Making Costume Magic for Maleficent

Oliver Garcia joined the Maleficent costume team after the design process had begun to inject new life into the aesthetic of the film. He takes us through the creation—and modernization—of the iconic villain's signature look.

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Harper's BAZAAR: What was your role on the film?

Oliver Garcia: My role was to present ideas for a new direction for the design of Maleficent's character and then designing and overseeing the team of designers that I brought in for the look.

HB: What was the original goal of the film's look, and how did you change that?

OG: The main goal was to inject a more contemporary design into the classical look that we had to stick to because of the original 1950s Maleficent. It was getting designs on jewelry and the headwear and adding accessories to attract a more contemporary eye. When I came in, it was looking a little bit too on the medieval-looking side.

HB: So the costumes stayed the same and you came in to add accessories to make it look more modern?

OG: It was mainly to add accessories and to incorporate techniques to manipulate the wide range of fabrics we had to use for Maleficent's look, like leather, fur, metal. We had to work those elements in a more fashion way, rather than the traditional costume way.

HB: What was Angelina's role in the aesthetics of the film and what was it like working with her?

OG: She was pretty collaborative with all the ideas that we were putting forward to her. I would say she should be credited—she was like the creative director of her look in a way because she was pushing us all the time to come up with new ideas. It was great to work with her. She was very enthusiastic, knowledgeable; she knows what she likes and what suits her. She's got an exquisite eye for the things that she wears so it was pretty easy to work with her as long as we were presenting a lot of different options, which I think we successfully did. She gave us a lot of confidence and support so it was a joy to work on it with her.

HB: Where did you derive your inspiration for Maleficent's look from?

OG: I did quite a lot of fashion research. I looked at a lot of contemporary fashion designers and a lot of designers that aren't actually big names—a lot of European and Eastern European designers that work with kind of the same materials that we were using, but don't have brands that are worldwide known. So, I started looking at techniques and ways of working with those materials from all this research, mixing it in with traditional research as well. We looked at a Japanese designer who does a lot of accessories and shoewear where she uses hair and horns, natural elements that she incorporates in her designs. We looked at painters, we looked at Alexander McQueen—a wide range of designers.

HB: Did you pull any inspiration specifically from the cartoon?

OG: Yes, that was the whole thing—we had to stick to the iconic silhouette of the robe, cane and the horns. The accessories were important. In the original cartoon, she wore the ring, so we had to respect that but make it a little more modern. We did that ring a little bit bigger than the original one and we changed that ring throughout the different costumes and we added more jewelry. We put jewelry on the horns, jewelry on her head wraps. We just added a little bit extra to all the looks.

HB: So you went for a more maximalist style instead of minimal?

OG: Exactly. All the looks are more embellished with different materials, from leather to feathers. We used metal that we couldn't particularly use because in the script she gets burned by metal, so with a lot of metal jewelry, we had to cover it up with leather. Everything we wanted to use we had to find a reason for it and think about why it's right for the character, then how we could adapt it in order to be able to use it so it wouldn't look too fashion and make it fit within a medieval film.

HB: What was the most challenging piece to work on?

OG: The final costume, which we called the battle costume. At the end of the film there is quite a dramatic scene. The silhouette stays the same throughout the film except when it comes to the end, which is where the real Maleficent comes out. It reveals her body. That costume was the most challenging one because of the materials that we used and the approvals we had to get. It was one that involved more stunts, so we had a lot to adapt to. The silhouette was quite fitted so it was a big challenge in order to design that costume. And we had hair as well that we sort of draped and blocked around her body to create this Maleficent creature and we had implants, like the ones you see on her face—we used those elements on different parts of her body to accentuate that she's a creature.

HB: Any specific costumes or pieces that were your favorite to work on and see come to life in the film?

OG: The final one. The one that is most challenging is the one that is most interesting as well because it reveals her in a completely different silhouette than the one she wears in the rest of the film. It's more aggressive; there's a lot more black in it. It shapes the body in a different way. With the cloak that she wears before that costume, you don't see the animal that Maleficent is. It shows her power more than the other ones. The other ones are a bit more magical because she is always covered.

HB: How big was your team? Did you make everything in-house?

OG: Between 15 and 18. Me, Manuel Albarran, and Justin Smith were the three creative minds, then we had the team that actually makes the things happen—they make and mold the jewelry, work the leather, and work with the hair. Everything was custom-made, even the shoes, in two-years time in London. Everything had to be made because it had to be made-to-measure and because of the variety of materials we were using.

HB: How much CGI was involved in the costumes versus what you actually made?

OG: I think it's only the wings. We never had the wings sticking out of her when we were filming. Everything else is real. Possibly the ring if there is anything coming out of it. I still haven't seen the film, but that ring is what keeps her power, so if there is anything going on with the ring, then that would be CGI, but other than that everything is real.

HB: Did designing around the CGI create a challenge for you?

OG: To be honest, we just did it. We knew what was coming. We knew that there would be CGI with things, but we just followed our instincts, which we did. And Angelina was always there, guiding us, in a way.